1. Field of the Disclosure The disclosure refers to an artificial heart comprising a blood pump with a pump drive and a control for controlling and regulating the pump drive.
2. Discussion of the Background Art
In the present context, an artificial heart is to comprise all intra- and extracorporeal artificial hearts that are provided with a blood pump, i.e. extracorporeal, fully or partly implantable artificial hearts, cardiac assist systems and the like. Known artificial heart implants operate at a fixed pumping frequency or include a simple sensor system that detects and controls or regulates the motor current or the filling of the pumping chamber. Extracorporeal artificial hearts derive ECG signals exteriorly from the skin of a patient, which signals are rather weak and inaccurate due to the distance from the heart. Intracorporeal artificial hearts derive the necessary delivery rates from the motor current, the blood flow and similar parameters. These methods are limited in their accuracy and they are unreliable.
DE 697 31 848 T2 discloses a cardiac assist system controlled by means of ECG electrodes.
DE 693 22 562 T2 discloses a muscle stimulation arrangement wherein an electrode probe in the vicinity of a patient's heart is used to lead ECG signals.
It is an object of the disclosure to provide an artificial heart that is simple to implant and permanently provides good electrode signals.